The Commonsense Dog

Finding tangible dog-training advice is more difficult than ever. There are so many opinions and labels out there that the average dog owner can become overwhelmed, and even worse, be made to feel like a bad pet owner for not following a specific ideology.

We hear terms like compulsion training, positive reinforcement training, pure positive training, scientific training, clicker training, balanced training, and model-rival training, but at the end of the day, they’re all just labels. I’ve been training dogs professionally for 10 years, and I can tell you that I’ve tried thousands of different techniques, some with better results than others, some that followed mainstream ideas and others that Google had never heard of.

We can’t get caught up in labels and following training methodologies like a textbook, because all dogs are different and every household is different. Whether you are dealing with happy, fearful, anxious, or aggressive dogs, the answer is always what works best for you.

There are many ways to successfully train a dog. Just like there are many ways to successfully raise a child. I have met people from entirely different family structures, religions, and histories, and despite the differences in the ways they were raised, they are fantastic people. There is no perfect answer for parenting, and there is no perfect answer for dog training.

The only question that should really matter is: Why do we train our dogs?

The simple answer is--they deserve it.

Sometimes we develop a skewed way of looking at the training process because we are so eager to have a compliant dog. Some clients come to me for the sole purpose of having a dog with flawless obedience. This is a perfectly acceptable goal, and it’s often a comfort source to owners who have felt as if they had no control.

However, this shouldn’t be our only motivation. Training isn’t a power tool or a means of stroking our egos. It is a stepping stone to teaching our dogs to safely navigate life when we give them more freedom. Again, no different than raising children. We don’t constantly battle with them to do their homework or clean their rooms because those things are critical parts of life, but because they help create good habits and a healthy mindset in our children who will eventually be adults and need those healthy habits and mindsets.

Our goals should address the dog as a whole. We should be utilizing obedience and behavioral rehabilitation not to create dominance or intimidation, but to eventually give our dogs healthy outlets where they can be dogs.

That being said, dogs are only half of the equation. You matter too. Your wants, needs, and understanding are just as important to the training process as your dog’s. You are not the lesser half, and you are not a poor pet owner every time your dog struggles. Find what works best for you, your family, your dog, and your lifestyle and run with it.

Every problem has a solution. Let’s figure it out together!

- • •

Stephanie Vichinsky is

the owner/head trainer

of Method K9 in Post Falls

(208) 964-4806.